Pages

Tuesday, July 24, 2012

How NOT to go on vacation.

Warning: Below is a long, whining, mostly not horse related post. Look at the pictures and move on if you don't want to read it.

I mentioned before I went off the grid that Hubby and I were headed for a four day vacation. We left Friday, had the Hubby Family Reunion on Saturday, stayed Sunday, and came home Monday. But first, let's rewind all the way back to last Thursday/

Thursday:

I had my final ride on Robert before leaving for "vacation". We did a dressage school in the indoor with the main focus on canter. Bobby was feeling good in general after his conditioning Wednesday. Forward but relaxed, and focused on me during warm up. After doing circles in every spot possible in the canter, I started working on his simple changes. He started anticipating way too much and would break to the trot as soon as I turned him on the diagnol, and then he'd trotreallyfast before falling into the canter. No thank you!

After a few times of doing this and completely ignoring me, I sat him on his rump as soon as he turned in and made him walk across the diagnol before picking up the canter again. It only took four times of this exercise before he decided it would be much easier and nicer for the both of us if he just listened to me and trotted when I asked.

I ran through the Novice A dressage test with the hopes of ending there, but instead had to deal with a "cantercantercanter!!!" brain every three strides. We struggled with control throughout the entire easy test and I made him trot for another ten minutes without trying to canter before calling it quits.

not thursday. but still cute!

Hubby got home a little early that afternoon and helped me finish packing for the camping. We decided to take the canoe out to the river which would have been more fun if we weren't battling knee-deep water with giant boulders potruding and a current that made us feeling like we weren't moving at all trying to go against it. It was a good workout at least.

We were on our way home when Hubby had to swerve to miss two kittens sitting in the middle of the road just past the subdivision where civiliztion ends on the way to our house. I had seen one of the kittens on the side of the road that morning on my way to the barn, but since I already have two cats and we were leaving the next day, I shrugged it off and told myself I couldn't stop to bring it home. Of course, this time I couldn't leave both of them there to be hit!

Hubby turned around and waved down a driver headed towards them. The woman pulled over just as the town cop pulled up behind us. He was nice enough to put on his lights and help us wrangle the two kittens while directing traffic. I agreed to take them for the night (it was almost 9pm) on the assumption that I would take them down to the SPCA in the morning and leave from there.

Friday:

The SPCA doesn't open until 11:30 so Hubby and I take our time packing and running last minute errands. We get our two cats squared away, leave feeding instructions for the rabbit and chickens, get the dogs in the truck, and load up the kittens. We get to the SPCA and manage to find someone without their head up the news crew's ass.

Me: I picked these kittens up in the middle of the road yesterday. I'm on my way to NY for four days and I can't leave them behind.

SPCA: Well, we're a non-profit agency and these kittens probably need medical attention so there's nothing we can do.

Me: ......

SPCA: And we're full so we can't take them.

Me: So.....what do you want me to do with them? Put them back in the road?

SPCA: Well......we can't take them. Call the vet and see if they will.

I called my vet and they pretty much told me they had no clue what to do with them. So back to the house Hubby and I went to rig together a vacation home for the kittens until we got back. We put them in the rabbit's winter cage which is a big wire crate with cedar shavings on the bottom and big bowls of food and water. Sorry, kittens. At least you won't be in the rain or the road.

tiny kitten one.

freaked out tiny kitten two.

The pouring rain ended just as we pulled into our campsite and Hubby and I went to grab dinner while we waited for Hubby's mom and SIL to show up. They finally pull in four hours later than they said they would and within ten minutes of getting out of the car, SIL is shoving pictures of her first sonogram in my face. Fuck that. I don't want to see your uterus, nor hear all the gritty details of what's going on inside of it.

Saturday:

Saturday was the reunion at Buttermilk Falls in Ithaca. We went for a really pretty hike down the Gorge Trail. I forgot my camera and phone so sadly there aren't any pictures from it. I did get my workout for the day in climbing up and down the crazily steep broken "stairs" both ways. That night, I noticed new red spots on my arm, legs, and neck. I am extremely allergic to poisin ivy and I can get it just by thinking the words. By the time I went to bed, I could feel my face start to burn and my eyes swelling.

Sunday:

I woke up with my right eye completely swollen shut and my legs, arms, neck and face (including my fucking lips!) covered in poisin ivy. What an awesome way to start the day. I took Advil for the swelling, Benadryl for the itching and general nastiness, lathered myself in Cortizone, and passed out for another hour with an ice pack on my eye. The swelling went down enough that I vaguely resembled a Neandrathal, but I could at least see. We spent the rest of the day doing more hiking and having to listen to SIL moan about how she needed a rest and she was feeling queasy and she needed to sit down. SIL is three months pregnant. Get the fuck over yourself. Why don't you share some of my weeping pus wounds? We can bitch itch together.

Monday:

I just wanted to be in my own house by this point. I itched like crazy and, for those of you who have had real poisin ivy know, I was looking like a leper as the nasty stuff started healing (in which the teeny tiny little swollen dots that covered what just looks like a red sore area start to leak yellow-ish liquid.). If you think I was looking incredibly attractive, you are so right! Hack, gag.

We got home after a long, but uneventful three hour drive to open the door to the house and find a carpet of fleas. It was like the Black Plague in our kitchen. We had started finding fleas on the dogs so we did an all-purpose deep clean before we left: Advantix for the dogs, flea bombs in the house, and spray for the outside of the house. Well, apparently the highly toxic shit Hubby brought home from work for outside far outweighed the little flea bombs inside the house and all the fleas took refuge inside. Just what you want to come home to! We ran down to PetSmart and grabbed two cases of bombs and set them off, deciding to spend our two hours at the barn.

When we went up to get Bobby out of the field, we found the final three pairs (yes, pairs) of his missing bell boots. One pair was even salvagable! I threw on my dressage tack and draw reins for a quick, painless schooling in the outdoor with no fuss. I jumped on and found he was a little foot sore. Not lame, just kind of ouchy. I got off and checked his shoes, but nothing seemed out of place so I got back on and he suffered through it for the twenty minutes I rode.

I fell back into my bad habits easy peasy and had droopy shoulders and lazy hands pretty much the whole ride.

like, srsly. what am i doing?

Overall though, nothing ground-breaking. Just a quick ride to blow some time.

I went into the feed room to grab a gram of Bute for his toes and I checked on my supplements. Monday's hadn't been fed. I was too tired to even call up to the house and tell BO about it. It's not like it won't still be there the next time I see her! Arghghgrhbvkdnlgkd.

So that was how I spent my time away from the barn. This morning I hung out outside for two hours while I bombed the house again because last night's bombing only took the edge off. Hubby and I are going on a vaccuming rampage tonight and I'll bomb the house again tomorrow, hopefully for the last time. I would like to move back in at some point this week.... Hopefully I can find these kittens homes pretty quickly, too.

"...within ten minutes of getting out of the car, SIL is shoving pictures of her first sonogram in my face. Fuck that. I don't want to see your uterus, nor hear all the gritty details of what's going on inside of it."

Sorry, I BURST out laughing in the office over that one! Love it! : ) Sounds like a horrible vacation, BUT an AWESOME blog post! Totally feel for you! (and would take a kitten if it was close by!)